Illegal parking of two-wheelers chokes Naya Sarak in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Dec. 22: Police have decided to intensify the ongoing drive to create awareness among people about road safety and traffic rules here.

The cops have decided to install hoardings at various locations to educate drivers about traffic rules. The hoardings, which would contain colourful photographs, information about various traffic rules and penalties in case of violations, would be shortly put up at various places.

“We are going to install hoardings at prominent traffic junctions shortly,” said deputy commissioner of police S. Praveen Kumar.

Kumar said a number of measures had already been undertaken by them to educate the city residents about various road safety rules.

Awareness drives are also being conducted regularly in schools and other educational institutions to ensure that children follow road safety rules while moving out on streets. “Once the ongoing awareness drive comes to an end, we plan to strictly enforce traffic rules and take stringent action against violators,” Kumar said.

Another senior city police official said enforcement of traffic rules had begun with strict implementation of the one-side parking provision at Naya Sarak.

Four to five four wheelers are being towed every day from the entire stretch from Nayasarak to Balu Bazar for being parked illegally.

The cops had introduced the one-side parking provision at Naya Sarak following an order of Orissa High Court in 2011. Earlier, a lot of people were parking their vehicles illegally on both sides of the road, creating frequent traffic congestions.

“Vehicular movement has been streamlined to a great extent as the cops have started a drive against illegal parking at Naya Sarak, which acts as a vital link between various important places in the city, including the high court and Sishu Bhavan,” said Siba Das, a local resident.

The police are also planning to streamline traffic from Badambadi to Madhupatna Square. At present, a major chunk of the road is being encroached upon by private buses that remain parked there round-the-clock, creating a lot of inconvenience to the commuters

“We have already set up two bus bays to ensure that buses do not obstruct the road. There are also plans to develop a parking provision for buses near Madhupatna,” said assistant commissioner of police (traffic) Pramod Rath.

Rath added that the temporary parking provision would be of great assistance to ensure that the 2.5-km stretch was free from encroachment. Moreover, the buses will also be penalised for illegal parking once the temporary parking lot comes up.